Pateick



J. H. KIRKPATRICK.

Shirt.

No. 225,616. Patented Mar. 16,1880.

J /enizv V N.PE1ER8; PHOTO-UTHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. D, C.

A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB H. KIRKPATRICK, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO KIRK- PATRICK 8t SMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

SHIRT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent NO. 225,616, dated March 16, 1880.

Application filed November 23, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J A0013 H. KIRKPATRICK, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shirts, of which the following is a specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan or front view. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of one edge of the bosom, showing the method of uniting to the body.

My invention relates to an improvement in dress-shirts with heavy-back bosomsn amely, to the construction of the bosoms, to the method of attaching the bosom to the body of the shirt, and to a means of strengthening the body at the sides of the bosom.

The usual method as regards the bosom is to make the back of one piece, which, being of heavy material, is liable, by constant bending and folding, to break off across the lower section. As regards attaching the bosom, the usual method is to secure the body into the edge of the bosom, between the face and back, by two rows of stitching, making asolid seam, thick, stiff, and hard at the edge, which soon cuts through or breaks off from the body of the shirt.

The object of this improvement is to prevent the bosom from breakingoff across the lower part, and to protect the body from any more strain or wear at the line of contact with the bosom than in other places.

The invention consists, first, in making the bosom with a back in two pieces, the lower section of a lighter and more flexible material, not liable to break off; second, in stitching the bosom into the body with detached edgeseams, back and face, or either, with back edges receding from the face, but having the appearance of solid seams; third, in putting one or more stays on the body at the sides of the bosom.

The bosom is made with the back in two sections, having for the lower section, 8, a lighter and more flexible material, so that in the ordinary bending of the bosom at this point-from three to four inches from the bottom-it will not be subject to the breaking and rapid wear of the coarser material used for the upper part of the back.

A represents the front of the shirt, from which an opening is cut corresponding to the bosom. B is the face of the bosom G, the back, say one-eighthv of an inch on a side narrower than the face. Between these two parts the fabric of the body D is introduced, and secured by a line of stitching, Isay threeeighths of an inch from the edge-running through the face, body, and back, firmly uniting the whole together and finishing the sides of the bosom. The edge of the back seam is left loose, and the edge of the face seam may be or not.

One or more stays, E, is stitched on to the front, extending from the bosom back. toward the sleeve, to strengthen this section of the front and prevent a liability of tearing down. This construction gives a heavy bosom, which, by the use of a lighter material for the lower section of the back, will not break off, and the detached edge-seams and receding edges of the heavy back protect the body from injury which occurs at or near the edge of the bosom, as it presents no line of especial pressure, strain, or friction in wearing, washing, or ironing.

The edge of the thick back seam being loose relieves the body from any pressure or extra wear from that source, and being released and softened by the water offers no edge to press or wear upon the body in washing. The thickness of the back seam protects the body from damage by the pressure and heat of the iron in ironing.

If there is, therefore, for the several reasons above mentioned, no extra pressure, friction, strain, or liability to injury in ironing, this portion of the body in contact with the bosom will last usually as long as the rest of the body.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A shirt-bosom made with a stiff back, having the lower part, near the bottom of this back, cut away, and a thinner and more fiexible piece stitched on in place, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The bosom having a divided edge, and the body stitched in between the front and back parts of said edge at a little distance from the edge of the bosom, leaving detached edge-seams front and back, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

JACOB H. -KIRKP ATRIOK.

Witnesses HORACE HARRIS, DANIEL WHITTOGK. 

